Nov. 19, 2014

John F. Kennedy High School

Volume 48, Issue2

November 19th, 2014

" ' & % ! $ !"#

Contents Editorial

Health

04 Shoot me I’m black

18 Hypnosis

News

A&E

06 Kathy Kittredge

20 Protection in your pocket

Profile

Sports

10 Learning the languages of Kennedy

Feature

22 Kennedy alumi take on Division 1 athletics 24 A look at state

14 The big, bad Ebola

10 22 19

John F. Kennedy High School 4545 Wenig Rd. NE Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 Volume 48, Issue 2

Letter from the editor As we start to finish up another issue of the Torch, I can’t help but think about what impact this issue will leave on the Kennedy community. I wonder what people get out of the Torch. Do our readers get out of it what we as a staff put into it?

In fact, in all aspects of life, do we get out of it what we put into it? What legacy do we leave behind? Are we remembered how we want to be remembered?

Kennedy teacher, Kathy Kittredge recently passed away but her memory will be in the minds and hearts of the Kennedy community for a long time.

I know I personally will remember her as a dedicated, passionate and hard working teacher.

Reporting a death is never easy. In order to honor long time beloved Kennedy teacher, Kathy Kittredge it is tough to find the words to show the impact she had on our Kennedy community. She left behind a legacy to all the students and staff she worked with over her years at Kennedy.

Even in her last days, Kathy Kittredge was continuing to share her knowledge and love for learning with the students of Kennedy.

As Editor-in-Chief, even just as a senior in my last year at Kennedy I hope to leave behind a legacy, I hope to be remembered, just like Mrs. Kathy Kittredge did to all the students and staff she worked with over the years at Kennedy.

Rest in Peace Kathy Kittredge, you will be in our hearts forever.

Staff editorial: How the Torch covers controversy Controversial topics are what make publications interesting. Sex, alcohol, drug use, abortion, discrimination, school policy, religion, and politics; all topics have multiple sides of theory and beliefs. And no belief is right or wrong. The Torch’s editorial policy states that we have the right to write about any of these topics as long as the topic has been researched. This is no promise that someone won’t be offended or may disagree. But isn’t that the point of an opinion story? The point is to stir up your thoughts and allow a new train of thought. With every story, we know there is a possibility of opposing views or just an additional thought, and that is why The Torch welcomes the Kennedy community to express their thoughts in a letter to the editor. We ask that you look over the guidelines for comments and letters to the editor before submitting.

Letters to the Editor and Online Comments: 1. Letters to editor may be printed in the opinion section of the newspaper or on the website.

2. Guidelines to write letters to the editor will be printed every issue in the opinion section of the paper and available online on the publication website.

3. Letters to the editor may be submitted to the Editorial Editor/Torch/ Room 70.

4. Letters to editor should not exceed 300 words, must be signed and must include writer’s address and phone number for verification.

5. Letters to the editor will be verified by a member of the Editorial Board to determine the authenticity of the writer.

6. No material will be printed where content is obscene, invasive of others’ privacy, encouraging physical disruption of school activities, and/or implies libel.

Torch Staff: Lydia Martin Editor-in-Cheif Hannah Bruns Design Editor Maddy Crist Editorial Editor Melanie Northland Photo Editor Morgan Schwab Media Director Gabby Olejniczak Business Manager Jade Milota PR Director Xander Riley News Editor Elianna Novitch Profile Editor Macy Anderson Health Editor Naomi Hofferber A&E Editor Abby Donovan Sports Editor Emily Sass Co-Sports Editor Fatima Elsheikh Writer Maddie Herlocker Writer Ron Lund Writer Hadley Rittgers Writer Brooke Timmerman Writer Brandt Barnhart Writer Stacy Haynes-Moore Adviser

Editorial

It is evident that walking while black in America is a crime.

Black lives don’t matter here, and they never have.

Blood trickled from his body into the street as he laid there, face down, for hours. Hours, as an angry, heated crowd gathered. “They could have just tased him. That’s some bullshit,” yelled a man at the scene in a cell phone-taped video. Gathered, they stared at his death, knowing it could have easily been their own while a cop laid a sheet over him.

The bullets that killed Michael Brown, a black unarmed 18-year-old, ricochet throughout Black America. It felt like our spirits were bleeding drops of gasoline on the flaming coals inside. And when the rage erupted, we filled the cities yelling, “No Justice, No Peace!”

Ever since the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on the night of Feb. 26, 2012, it has been the topic of discussion in the news. Little did his loved ones know that the last image they would have of him was what was caught on surveillance video; the hood from his dark gray sweatshirt covering his head as he walked up to the counter in a nearby 7-Eleven, reaching deep into his pockets to pay the clerk for the bag of skittles and Arizona iced tea he went in to grab. Capturing him lastly, walking out.

People fail to realize, though, that this situation has transformed into something much bigger than Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. This is about Ezell Ford, John Crawford, Eric Garner, Renisha McBride, Jordan Davis, Jonathan Ferrell, Darius Simmons, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Oscar Grant, and the countless other black people who lost their lives due to systematic racism.

Systematic racism - the system that continues to manufacture the image of “criminal” black people. The exact system that demands second-class status for ghettoized black youth, and middle-class blacks in general. It was the system that carries out a form of self-fulfilling prophecy, the kind that allows police officers to kill blacks and simply say they had felt threatened.

Brown was shot, not just once, but several times by a white Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson, on Aug. 9, 2014. It didn’t even take me having to put myself in his mothers shoes to know how it felt – he was one of us, and he didn’t deserve to be shot. He was a good kid. He was just walking home. He didn’t have a gun. He even put his hands up. He was going to college in the fall. Do you know how many black men graduate? Allow me to remind you – not many. And it all goes back to this system.

The system that seeks deep into the black communities for criminality by placing in much of the law enforcement personnel. Giving the young ones poor education, easy access to guns and dope, discriminating against us in every way imaginable,

Fatima Elsheikh felsheikh24@gmail.com 4

keeping us unemployed and then all of a sudden, like magic, the conditions have been created that justify police presence.

Leaving no room to rebel against our situation, police officers brutalize the community, and from time to time, they shoot or kill one of us.

Our victim’s innocence allows black pain to be visible, and to show in contrast the guilt of a racist system. It’s why we marched with arms raised, shouting, “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!” It’s why two years ago, we wore hoodies when Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida. It’s why we counted to 50, one for each bullet fired by police at Sean Bell in 2006. And it’s why we waved plungers at the NYPD in 1999 after officers used one to sodomize Abner Louima in a bath stall.

In Ferguson, stores burned as people ran in and out of clouds of tear gas. In the fire light, the nation and the world could see the black rage underneath the American Dream. But as the riots end and ashes are swept, a question remains.

Why is our suffering so invisible, so unvalued that it takes a city in flames to see it?

The answer lies within our innocence, as we all try to be “innocent” in order to achieve respectability, but fail. We try again, and fail once again. On occasion, sometimes one of us gets a win - a BET Image Award or a middle-class job. But many of us don’t, and thats when we start to blame ourselves. Looking into a mirror, we think we are too dark, too ghetto, too poor, too not good enough to be anyone worth anything.

From this innocence, we become visible to the whites, and even our own kind by a whole vocabulary: monkey, hood-rat, tar baby, ratchet, darkness, and so on. We knife each other with curses everyday, and step on each other just to get to that light stemming from the dollar sign floating above us. Shoot, much of hip-hop is exactly this, among our existence of black gang violence - a pure sign of double consciousness. It doesn’t help that white conservative experts scream about “black-on-black” crime when most crime, “white” included, is interracial. Yet anyone with ears can hear an element of adopted racism in gangs of color. And yet anyone with eyes can see that Black America is under constant pressure, a whole spectrum of violence hits us and then too often, we turn around and hurt each other.

But then we see another murder, by a police officer or by some G.I. Joe-wannabe that kills an unarmed, innocent black person, usually male, and suddenly the spell is snapped. No matter how hard one tries, the white gaze will only see a “blackened” body to suspect, to handcuff, to jail, or to shoot.

Hood over my head, hands held up high; shoot me, I’m black.

But just remember, I had a dream.

The Editorial Board welcomes all letters to the editors. It is the responsibility of the Editorial editor to verify all submissions and also reserves the right to reject those that are innacurate or contain poor quality. All letters must be signed.

Editorial

Speak with meaning Speech is an incredible ability that distinguishes humans from the lower forms of life on our planet. The ability to communicate through spoken and written language is an incredible mark of human intelligence. But it loses its value when words lose their meaning.

For example, the word “swag.” Swag is used almost like punctuation, and therefore it has lost almost all meaning, because people say it when something’s good, or bad, or almost anything. At this point, it’s little more than a sound, like a dog barking.

Now, at this point I must admit that I am not personally a fan of the word swag. But regardless of that fact, if it was used for its correct meaning and only used on occasion, I could live with it.

Very few words are stupid sounding in and of themselves; rather, they become so through misuse or overuse.

Sometimes, people use words that they think mean something, but that really mean something else. My favorite example is “bae.”

In its modern usage, “bae” has two meanings: one, as an abbreviation of “babe” or “baby”; and two, as an acronym for “before anyone else.” It’s also quite often applied to things besides just people, and, like swag, is almost like punctuation at this point.

However, an added twist is the fact that “bae” originally came into existence as the Danish word for poop. That kind of puts an interesting spin on its usage, doesn’t it?

Obviously, language must change and evolve to keep up with the times. Otherwise, we’d still be saying “thee” and “thou” and “curglaff” (although I actually kind of like that one). Many words we use today mean different things than they used to, as you know already if you’ve taken AP Language and Composition. For example, did you know that “explode” used to mean, “reject?” Or that “handsome” used to mean “easy to handle?” These words have changed because at some point, someone decided it would be better for something to mean something else, and others agreed.

But changing a word’s meaning is not the same as erasing its meaning. To illustrate that fact, I’ll use a word that has long been a source of irritation to grammarians: literally. Literally is used to indicate that something happened exactly as you described it.

Yet, many now simply use it for emphasis. I disagree with this course of action for two reasons: one, because we already have a word for that: figuratively, which is the exact opposite of literally.

Also because the purpose of “literally” lies in its specificity. It only means something because there are instances when it applies and instances where it does not. If people decide to apply it to any situation, then that doesn’t just change the meaning. It obliterates it.

So when you are exercising your power of language, keep this in mind: think about what you’re saying, and speak with meaning.

Xander Riley

Young, wild and legal Turning 18. A moment most teens look forward to. But what actually changes when you turn 18? Well, you can register to vote, renew your license, and technically speaking you’re an adult; at least in the eyes of the government. But chances are your family doesn’t treat you like an adult. Your parents still tell you when to be home and your school still tells you to show up.

So when do you really become an adult? That depends on who you ask. I think you become an adult as soon as you start making your own money, paying your own bills and being self reliant, at least for the most part. There are several people I could list right now that aren’t 18 and I see them as adults. Working all week, paying for everything they need and who rely on themselves only. On the same note I know several people upwards of 25 who I don’t feel are really adults. I don’t think being an adult is so much about your age as it is about the way you present yourself.

So if you’re walking around at 30, living with your parents, unemployed, and relying on your parents completely, you aren’t an adult. And I think this is skewed for some people. Students have a misconception that when you turn 18 you are magically an adult. The problem with that is they still live at home, many don’t

have jobs and they don’t do a whole lot to support themselves, or try to. Now there are the other people who have all of this and don’t consider themselves adults. Me? I have a job, I turned 18, I pay for a large majority of what I want or need, and I don’t even really consider myself an adult. Sure I can go out and buy cigarettes and if I get arrested I’ll go to real jail. There is so much more to being an adult than that. I don’t pay a mortgage on a house, have a car payment or have to worry about life insurance.

These are all real things that adults have to worry about. Not being able to walk into a Casey’s and ask for a pack of cigarettes. I have seen all too many posts on multiple social media platforms that go something along the lines of “Yes! I turned 18, now my parents can’t tell me what to do, I’m finally an adult.”

But I want you to think of one thing when you see someone say that. Would they be able to move out of their parent’s house today, make a living, pay their bills, go to school and still survive?

Because I think the answer to that question in many cases is no.

So I think society should reevaluate their definition of being an adult and what it really means to be grown up.

Melanie Northland PAGES BY MADDY Crist 5

News

Gone but not forgotten

Kittredge on one of her chemotherapy days. photo provided by Michelle Frye.

K

atherine Kittredge, a longtime Kennedy staff member, passed away on Saturday, Nov. 1 after losing a nearly three year long battle with breast cancer.

She touched many lives over the 10 years she taught at Kennedy, continuing to teach AP Physics up until the end.

Throughout her experience with cancer and chemotherapy, she inspired many with her positive attitude towards her therapy, raising her mood by dressing up on days she had chemo.

One person she touched was Michelle Frye, a fellow teacher and cancer patient.

“She showed [her students] what hard work and determination was,” Frye said, “and she also showed that courage comes in a lot of different packages.”

On Monday, Nov. 10, students gathered together to plant a tree in memorial of Kittredge.

If you would like to submit a letter like Frye’s, contact a Torch staff member and it could be published on kennedytorch.org.

Xander Riley and Elianna Novitch A letter written to Kittredge by Michelle Frye at Torch’s request.

6

PAGE BY Xander Riley and Elianna Novitch

news

TORCH TAKES ON CONFERENCE After attending the Iowa High School Press Association conference at the University of Iowa on Oct. 23, Kennedy’s journalism students came back with increased skills and recognition for their work.

The Kennedy Torch newsmagazine was awarded first place in photography and received an honorable mention for students’ writing for the 2013-2014 school year’s publication.

The IHSPA conference hosted high school journalism students from all over the state. This conference provided opportunities to tour the Adler Journalism Building and learn more about it, as well as attend workshops and listen to speakers.

Students could attend the sessions that most interested them. They attended three

sessions in the morning and one in the afternoon. These sessions gave them the opportunity to grow as writers, photographers and editors and bring what they learned back to their high schools.

At the conference there were also contests that the students could participate in. One of them was an on-the-spot photography contest for which Emily Sass, so., received two honorable mention awards.

Iowa Emerging Journalists awards were given to Elianna Novitch jr., and Gabby Olejniczak jr..

HADLEY RITTGERS

David Ryfe talks to high school students about journalism at the University of Iowa on Oct. 23.

Tim Harrower talks about how to make to news room fun.

photos by Emily Sass.

PAGE By emily SasS 7

News

Right: Stephanie Cory, Kennedy’s bookkeeper, handles all the money that comes through Kennedy. Left: Carl Barton, a member of Kennedy’s security staff, writes a parking ticket for a car in Kennedy’s south parking lot. photos by Fatima Elsheikh

The costs of running a school R

unning a school takes a lot of money. $345,913 may seem like a lot of money for some, but for administrators at Kennedy high school, it’s hardly enough.

Each year the Cedar Rapids Community school district allots a certain amount of money for each school in its district, but last year the school district cut a crucial budget of almost $30,000 meant to be used for furniture and equipment at Kennedy high school. The money can be used for a number of things, whether it’s buying new desks and white boards or updating old security cameras.

“Last year we got no money from the school district so we weren’t able to do much,” Kennedy Associate Principal Jim Muench said. “We even had to buy 60 student desks with money out of a different account that would’ve been used for other things within the school.”

As for the $30,000 that was cut from the budget last year, it looks like it won’t be coming back anytime soon.

“It’s just not available; the district doesn’t have the money to give,” Muench said, “We’ve been told that we will be receiving some money this year for furniture and equipment, but it won’t be nearly as much as we’ve gotten in the past; and we have yet to be informed how much they will give us.”

Steve Graham is the Executive Director of Business Services for the Cedar Rapids

“[The money] is just not available; the district doesn’t have the money to give.”

-Associate Principal Jim Muench School District. According to him, besides the district budget, there is also a fund controlled by Kennedy’s administration directly.

“It’s a very basic building budget, and it’s based on the number of students at Kennedy times a dollar amount,” Graham said.

This is used to pay things like the elec-

8 PAGES BY Xander RIley

tricity bill or to buy copy paper, whereas the district funds discussed earlier are used for different expenses, such as paying staff or paying for activities.

Whenever students pay a fee to the school, like a parking ticket, that money goes back into the school-controlled fund.

So any money students pay to the school is then used for the running of the school.

This money, while under the control of school administration, is handled largely

by Stephanie Cory, Kennedy’s bookkeeper.

“I handle all the money that comes through Kennedy, including fees and parking tickets,” Kennedy bookkeeper Stephanie Cory said, “And I pay all their bills too.”

Gabby Olejniczak and Xander riley

To the extreme

News

A look at how ISIS affects Muslims T

housands of people have died at the hands of Islamic extremists. Terrorist organizations such as ISIS, (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), have claimed many lives in the name of religious extremism. And major news organizations report it all.

Because of this, some people tend to associate the actions of terrorists like ISIS with Islam in general.

However, a study done by Gallup, a data-driven news organization, showed that only 7 percent of Muslims are, as they refer to it, “politically radicalized,” meaning that they fully support the actions of extremist organizations.

So how about the other 93 percent? What do they believe?

As with many major religions, there is a degree of variation within its members when it comes to specific beliefs. But according to Hassan Mahmoud, there are a few key ideas which remain constant.

“All agree that there is one God, named Allah,” Mahmoud said, “and that Muhammad was sent to convey his messages to people.”

“Allah” is an Arabic word that means “The God,” or “The One God.” This title is used to indicate that there is only one God, according to Mahmoud.

Mahmoud is an imam, which one might compare to a Jewish rabbi or a Christian pastor. “Imam” is Arabic for

“leader,” and son, where they take the does that lead in things put organisuch as the five zations like daily prayers ISIS? which Muslims “Some practice. people take According to [Islamic Mahmoud, Isdoctrine] lam shares certo a very tain similarities extreme with religions meaning, such as Juda- Hassan Mahmoud is an imam f o c u s i n g ism and Chris- at the Islamic Center of Cedar on literal Rapids. tianity. meanings photo by Xander Riley and tak“ I s l a m agrees with ing scripChristianity and Judaism tures out of context,” Mahthat you should be a good moud said. “Everyone, with person and a good neighbor, or without religion, knows and you should love God,” that what ISIS is doing is Mahmoud said. wrong, the question is how One thing many people do we stop it?” may not realize is that, in How do we stop it? addition to the Koran, Is“Whether it’s ISIS or anylam also recognizes the Old thing else, we all have to and New Testaments, as address our flaws and our well as some other writings mistakes, and few have the “We can use morals moral courage to admit that.” and ethics to make a So what are many Muschange. People like ISIS lims doing to address the flaws and mistakes of this are obstacles.” small group?

-Hassan Mahmoud “We can use morals and and scriptures. In addition, ethics to make a change.

Muslims believe in Jesus- People like ISIS are obstasort of. cles,” Mahmoud said, “We “We believe Jesus was a try to explain to [our chilvery good man sent to guide dren] that this is not how people,” Mahmoud said, “he you use religion...hopefully was a prophet like Moses.” we will one day have a genSo while Jesus does play a eration of Muslims who part in Islam, he is not con- don’t have any of this ideolsidered to be God or the son ogy.” of God as he is in ChristianXander Riley ity.

Since Islam teaches that you should be a good per-

Do you think of Islam as being a violent/extreme religion?

15% Yes

85% No

Do you think organizations like I.S.I.S. have affected people’s perception of Islam?

12% No

88% Yes

From a poll of 75 Kennedy students.

Graphic by Xander Riley. Star taken from creative commons.

9

PROFILE

Learning the languages of Kennedy Whether it is their religion, race, or the activities they participate in, the students who walk the halls of Kennedy are diverse. Some of these diverse students include those whose first language may not be English.

Teacher Scott Bleuer helps teach and immerse these students in the English language in a class known as ELL. ELL is an abbreviation for English Language Learners. Other classes of ELL are also taught by teacher Kristina Bruce.

“The program is for the English Language Learners, who are students from different countries that are immigrants to America,” Bleuer said.

“We focus on teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking English processes.”

This school year is Bleuer’s first year of teaching ELL at Kennedy, but he also taught ELL in the schools he previously taught at.

“The number of immigrants in our country was growing more and more and so I knew there would be a need for ELL teachers,” Bleuer said in response to how he became interested in teaching ELL. On a daily basis, Bleuer works with many languages. From Spanish and Nepali to Swahili and Somali, the students who Bleuer teaches speak a wide range of languages that originate from all over the globe.

Bleuer himself speaks some Spanish and has tried to learn some simple words like ‘hello’ and ‘good-bye’ in other languages spoken by his students.

“They are always surprised to hear you say something in their language because they don’t really hear it at school unless they are speaking with others from their country,” Bleuer said.

In the ELL classes, Bleuer uses listening activities and worksheets to help teach English. “It’s similar to what you would do in Spanish or French,” Bleuer said. Textbooks for reading along with writing exercises are also used in Bleuer’s classes.

ELL is a unique class that helps unique and diverse students become acquainted with the English language.

“What’s really neat and what I really enjoy is working with kids from all over,” Bleuer said. “You’re always learning new things about different places, different countries, and different cultures.”

Though they may speak a different language, the ELL students are normal high schoolers just like any other student at Kennedy .

“People should know that they are just like any other teenager, except that they come from a different country and speak a different language,” Bleuer said. “A lot of them want to fit in and get involved in activities and those kinds of things which is great.”

Bleuer feels like he has made a connection with these diverse students and has gotten to know them well. “They are a cool group of kids that I wish more kids would know. I sometimes see kids stopping in and asking where they are from and that’s cool to see,” Bleuer said.

With programs like ELL in place at schools, more students, like the ones Bleuer teaches, with different backgrounds will be able to connect with others around them. “Most of them just really want to learn and fit in. They want to have a good high school experience just like anyone else,” Bleuer said.

“What’s really neat and what I really enjoy is working with kids from all over,” - Scott Bleuer

Elianna Novitch

“Ma ajha angrējī sikēkā chan ra ma nayām śabda uccārana garna kasarī thāhā cha. Ma mānchē prarambha kurākānī garna pā’unu manaparcha.”

(Nepali) “I have learned more English and I know how to pronouce new words. I like being able to have conversations wih people.”

PROFILE

Jhulendra Adhikari, sr., Languages: Nepali, Hindi, and English

“Ma kēnēdī jastai. Ma asala sāthī ra phurtilō bhōjana samayamā mērō hōmavarka garna saksama chu chan.

Tapā’īm yahām sabai kēhi garna paryāpta samaya cha.”

(Nepali) Dilli Thapa, sr., Languages: Nepali, Hindi, and English

“I like Kennedy. I have made good friends and am able to do my homework during SMART lunch. You have enough time to do everything here.”

“Yō mērō an’ya kaksāharūmā malā’ī madata garcha ra malā’ī nayām mi tra pūrā madata garēkō cha.”

(Nepali) “[ELL] helps me in my other classes and has helped me meet new friends.”

Binod Magar, jr., Languages: Nepali, Hindi, and English

PAges by Elianna Novitch 11

While

You’re

Students attendance rates affect grades When the weather gets colder,

our immune systems tend to become weaker, causing us to become sick more often. As a student being sick a lot can have a pretty big impact on your schooling.

“During cold and flu season absenteeism goes up, the biggest thing is getting parents to call in, and getting kids to a doctor rather than continuing to be sick,” Attendance Facilitator, Jay Goodlove said, “If it’s just a cold and runny nose, go to school, life goes on. But the flu, no we don’t want you here.”

Last year, mostly during the winter months, Emily Wiese, sr., missed around 20 days of school due to various illnesses. Wiese says that missing so many days of school caused her grades to suffer a lot.

12

“Most classes I was able to get my grade up by staying after school and getting help, and doing a lot of work outside of school, Wiese said, “Other A classes I had missed too much of the material taught from being sick that it

was too difficult to make up and over time Both Wiese and Haynes agree that as students if they do miss a lot of school my grade didn’t improve by much.” they make it up as soon as you can.

Goodlove recommends that students “Don’t get overwhelmed by the get their grades up as soon as possible make up work because it will become even if they are still at home sick. more stressful for you. Be sure to pace “When you’re gone we need you to try yourself and ask teachers for help if and keep up, make contacts through you have questions or don’t understand e-mail and Canvas, that’s why we have what has been taught,” Wiese said. those tools.” Goodlove said, “It’s a lot Being absent a lot from school, even if of work to be in high school especially it’s due to illness, has a direct affect on if you’re in some intense classes or AP your grades, and your future. courses and then when you miss days, then hopefully with our Canvas and “Just take school serious and make Power School you can keep up.” sure to get caught up right away. Come in during SMART lunch and before and This year, along with Canvas and Power School, SMART Lunch has helped after school because in the long run you students to get caught up when missing being lazy now could take away opporschool. Malik Haynes, so., missed a week tunities in the future,” Haynes said. straight of school and other various days due to being sick, already this year.

Lydia Martin “It dropped me like a whole grade point, but SMART lunch has helped me get them back to maintainable grades,” Haynes said.

Feature

Out

“Just take school serious.”

- Malik Haynes “It’s a lot of work to be in high school especially if you’re in some intense classes.”

-Jay Goodlove

Doctors Note Protect yourself. The flu is coming. This winter take defensive measures to protect yourself from getting infected.

Dr. Matthew G. Fox at Mercy care Marion had some tips for kids at Kennedy to stay healthy. · Get a flu shot as soon as possible. · Wash your hands, ”wash thoroughly with soapy water aggressively,” Fox said. · Avoid touching your nose or eyes where the germs can spread quickly · Sneeze into your elbow or a tissue · If you are sick, just stay home. “ You shouldn’t go to a doctor’s office either, because there’s nothing we can really do for you,” Fox said, “and you will just get the people in the waiting room sick.”

Brant Barnhart

PAGES BY HAnnah Bruns Photos by: Hannah Bruns

13

Everyone is going to get Ebola.

At least that’s how the media is portraying it.

The public has been covering and watching the outbreak closely, informing the public often. From outrageous news headlines to taking liberties with factual information, the United States press is having a field day, frightening people about Ebola.

“The news is blowing it out of proportion,” Sean Sailer, jr., said.

On Sept. 30 the first laboratory confirmed case of Ebola in the United States was diagnosed in Texas.

Since then America has been in a state of panic.

“I am worried that it will be more serious in the future,” Reyez Bell, sr., said.

Ebola is considered a moderately contagious disease. It is not transmitted through the air like influenza or tuberculosis, the only way to get infected is by contact with the body fluids from an infected person or objects that have been contaminated.

Among the five patients declared ill in the U.S., four have been declared successfully

14

discharged. They have been treated, quarantined, and kept in separate units in their hospitals. The United States has a 80% survival rate.

“I hope Ebola doesn›t spread and that we find a cure or vaccination,” Bell said.

Although the disease can be deadly, so can many other things.

Unfortunately, 8 million people die of cancer every year and 14 million people learn they are diagnosed with it. There are many different types of cancer including breast, colon, lung, heart, and many more.

It affects people of all ages, race, and gender. Early detection is key.

Cancer awareness month is in October, but other than that only so much is told and heard about the illness in the publicity.

“One person has died of Ebola.

People die every day from other, more threatening and harming things, yet the news is only interested in Ebola,” Sailer said.

PAGES BY Hannah Bruns

Reyez Bell, sr.

Jade Milota

Sean Sailer, jr.

news

Photos by: Jade Milota Graphic by: Hannah Bruns

H Y P N O S IS

Health and Lifestyle

“I started smoking at the age of 19,” Kennedy social studies teacher, Melissa Osborn, said. “I wish I never would have started, but back then we didn’t think about the health issues it could cause, even though each pack would say it could cause lung cancer.”

Osborn eventually got to the point of smoking almost a full pack of cigarettes a day.

“I realized it was time to start doing something about it. I tried the Nicorette patch, I tried just quitting cold turkey, and I would be good for a couple days, but I would always come back,” Osborn said.

One night Osborn, her parents, and some of her friends decided to go to a comedy show in Omaha.

“He asked for volunteers, he said he could help with anything so I decided to go up,” Osborn said.

The comedian was a man who did hypnosis as his show. He would make the crowd a part of his comedy.

“I never expected hypnosis to work in general because of my short attention span, but the next thing I knew I was waking up to a crowd of people,” Osborn said.

Osborn told the comedian she wanted to quit smoking, and he made that his priority.

“I didn’t notice that the hypnosis worked until the next day when I was with my friends and they asked me if I wanted to smoke. I thought about it and it didn’t sound appeal18

ing,” Osborn said.

A few weeks later Osborn experienced breathing issues. She went to the doctor and they did an x-ray on her chest.

“They told me they found three nodules on my lung,” Osborn said.“It was a scary thought, I was 27 and have three nodules on my lower left lung.”

“I never expected hypnosis to work,” -Melissa Osborn According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, habitual smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Each year more than 480,000 deaths are caused by smoking. One in five people who smoke die from it.

Osborn says she made excuses as to why things would go the way they did.

“I would say to myself, ‘the breathing issues are because I quit smoking’, but then I thought about it and realized in reality that I now have a health issue that will stay

with me the rest of my life because of smoking,” Osborn said.

Osborn still has to go to the doctor and get a CAT scan every year to make sure that things are going to way they are supposed to.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity I had that night with hypnosis. Now every time I smell someone smoking a cigarette I want to vomit,” Osborn said.

Both of Osborn’s parents smoke.

When both of them turned 60, each of them had a critical health issue.

In 2009, Osborn’s father turned 60.

A month later, he was diagnosed with a very rare cancer. When Osborn’s mother turned 60, she had a heart attack. The doctor told them she was lucky she came out alive.

“I don’t think I would have started smoking if my parents would not have smoked,” Osborn said.

There are many ways to quit such as the quit line, the patch, different kinds of pills, and hypnosis is a commonly forgotten option.

“Smoking was probably the dumbest habit I picked up. I was dumb and stupid and now I live with the long term health effects,” Osborn said.

Emily Sass

Graphics by Xander Riley, star from Creative Commons

Health and Lifestyle

Organic food stores becoming popular in Cedar Rapids

The Fresh Market opened its doors for the first time on Oct. 1 this year.

The 24,000 square foot grocery store is located at 180 Collins Road in the Collins Crossing Center in Cedar Rapids.

The Fresh Market is an organic grocery store founded in 1982, with its first store being in North Carolina.

There are now 160 stores in 26 states across America, with Cedar Rapids being the most recent location.

The store contains a bakery that in-

cludes freshly baked bread, 14 different kinds of pie made daily, more than 200 different varieties of cheeses, as well as fresh seafood delivered to the store multiple times a week.

The grand opening, which was open to the public, included chef demonstrations, food sampling, and drawings for gift cards. The Fresh Market will employ up to 90 people at their Cedar Rapids location. Candidates must be at least 16 years of age to apply.

Not only is Fresh Market a store, but also a company that helps with research and raising money for various charities. To this day, Fresh Market and its employees have raised almost 4 million dollars for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

In 2013, they also raised over $440,000 for the American Red Cross to help those affected by countless crisis’ around the world.

New Pioneer Co-op will sell locally grown products

The New Pioneer Food Co-op in Cedar Rapids is not open for business yet, but it will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Co-op is a grocery store containing almost all locally grown organic products, and was founded in 1971 in our very own Iowa City.

The organization is currently supporting over 125 local producers as well as helping them earn $2 million just in this past year alone. The Coop defines local as “within the state

of Iowa or a 250 mile radius of New Pioneer stores.”

All local products that are sold are labeled in order to give the grower of the product recognition and support.

New Pioneer only sells food if it contains no artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors, or preservatives, and meet Coop’s standards. This is insuring that the food you buy from Co-op is as healthy as it can be.

New Pioneer makes sure you know

where their food comes from, every ingredient in their food, and when foods contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

Food is the main selling product at New Pioneer Co-op, but they also sell many other items. All products for sale are 100 percent cruelty free and proven safe through non-animal testing methods. Open interviews for employment were held on Oct. 31.

Morgan Schwab

PAGES BY Macy Anderson 19

Arts and Entertainment

The Protection in Your Pocket How your phone could get you out of serious danger with just one tap

It is a classic movie scene. Someone has broken in to tors have not come true. your home. You hide under your bed. You need to call Black Hawk County director of administrative su911 to tell them what is happening but you can’t othpervision, Judy Flores said that to this point nobody erwise the trespasser will find you. It would be great if has misused the opportunity. you could text 911 operators and let them know what Flores hopes that text-to-911 does become more is happening. widespread.

For most teenagers this is just hypothetical, but what “It has been proven that people already think the happens when you are involved in a car accident and technology is in place, as was an example in the Viraren’t able to talk on the phone with a 911 operator? ginia Tech School shooting several years ago, when A new program called text-to-911 would offer students were trying to hide from the shooter and advantages for people who are unable to speak for were texting 911, those call (texts) went nowhere. If reasons such as injury, home invasion, a situation this technology saves lives, it is worth it to move forwhere a person is in hiding, ward with it,” Flores said. and for people with hearing Charlie McClintock, a Cedar impairments.

Rapids public safety dispatch In the future, text-to-911 manager, said that Iowa and will be widely available in Cedar Rapids are looking into the United States. However, moving to text-to-911 capabilitext-to-911 is currently only ties as soon as next year. available in certain markets -Judy Flores, Black Hawk Director of Ad“Initial steps have been taken to where 911 call centers, also ministrative Supervision implement text-to-911,” Mcknown as Public Safety Clintok said.

Answering Points (PSAPs), have elected to accept If someone were to text 911 right now in Cedar emergency text messages from the public. The Federal Rapids, they would receive a message telling them Communication Commission’s (FCC) website said. to make a voice call because there is no text-to-911 Currently Black Hawk County is the only county in service available at this time.

Iowa that offers to text-to-911. Black Hawk County Although text-to-911 has its advantages, it also has agreed to be the beta site for text-to-911. In order to its disadvantages, such as “a slower response and condo so they had to purchase a new telephone system fusion compared to a voice call, and language support that had the ability to use the technology required for for foreign language texts,” McClintok said. text-to-911.

McClintok wants to remind people that text-to-911 So far allowing people to text 911 operators hasn’t is a “secondary protocol, once implemented, it should cost the department anything, aside from the puronly be used when a voice call cannot be made. And, chase of the new telephone system. as always, use 9-1-1 for emergencies only.”

Brooke Timmerman With the opportunity of texting 911, there also comes the chance for people to misuse it. However fears that some people might try to prank text opera-

“If this technology saves lives, it is worth it to move forward with it,”

20

Arts and Entertainment

bSafe

Tap that app

How it works: When an emergency but-

ton is pressed, an alarm will go off, and the phone will begin recording sound and video, along with sending out GPS location to the bSafe database, which can be accessed, to share with police. The app can also trigger fake phone calls.

Cost: Free, but some features require a subscription Compatibility: Android, iOS

Circle of Five

How it works: Add six friends from your

contacts to your circle. If you are in trouble, tap the contact you want and click three buttons to send different automatic messages that can either gives your location for your contact to get you, informs your contact to call you, or informs them you are concerned about your relationship. There is also an emergency button to contact rape and abuse hot lines.

Cost: Free Compatibility: Android, iOS android, iOS

StaySafe

How it works: StaySafe has a countdown

feature where users check in after a certain time, like a run or a night out. If users don’t check in, a message will be sent to selected contacts, informing them the users never checked in. A panic button also is available during the countdown, which sends an emergency message to selected contacts.

Cost: Free, but some features require a subscription Compatibility: Android, iOS

graphic by Hannah Bruns

Pages By Naomi Hofferber 21

D Sports

ivision 1 Sports

Josh Jahlas

Zach Daniels

Kaela Dickerman

Conner Koberg

Derek Jacobus

Morgan Martin

Courtney Kalb

photos provided by Connie Caviness

Kennedy Alumni take on Division 1 athletics

A

s a student athlete enters high school they begin to make the decision where to spend most of their time. This decision can affect an athlete’s future and for some that might be playing for a Division 1 college.

Division 1 athletics have a higher commitment level than high school. Many high school athletes have to transition into this new level of commitment to be able to participate at the Division 1 level.

Josh Jahlas is a 2012 graduate of Kennedy. Academically he is a junior at Iowa State University, but on the football field Jahlas is a red-shirt sophomore.

“The difference between playing here and in high school is first the speed,” Jahlas said. “Everything happens so much faster. Apart from the game it becomes a job. Everything you do revolves around it so you gotta love what you do!”

Managing Division 1 athletics and schoolwork gives a student many new experiences that can lead them in a positive direction. The most important lessons that this commitment teaches you are responsibility and time management.

Morgan Martin a 2014 graduate is on a full ride scholarship at Eastern Illinois University for basketball. Along with playing basketball, Martin is majoring in biology. She says that managing college alone can be a challenge, but when you throw in a sport that takes up many hours a week it becomes very exhausting.

“With Saturday morning practice, we can’t go out on Friday nights with our friends and it takes most of your Saturday to recover from the workout that morning,” Derek Jacobus said. “The amount of time devoted to being a D1 athlete pays less than a minimum wage job, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Even though prioritizing time can be difficult, most college athletes are very competitive and will do anything they can

to succeed in both academics and athletics.

Courtney Kalb is a junior at the University of Northern Iowa. Kalb graduated from Kennedy in 2012. She is apart of the University of Northern Iowa Dance Team as a captain.

“I have learned how to balance school and dance over the years. It takes a lot of planning and staying organized, but it’s almost easier knowing the free time I have has to be spent getting my homework done,” Kalb said.

“The amount of time devoted to being a D1 athlete pays less than a minimum wage job, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Derek Jacobus 2014 graduate, Derek Jacobus is a freshmen decathlon member on the track and field team at the University of Northern Iowa. Jacobus is one of three on the team that specializes in this. Being a decathlon member means he participates in a combination of 10 events.

“The amount of experience you get from meeting new people will make it easy in the future when you have to adapt to new situations,” Jacobus said.

Another positive outcome of playing a Division 1 sport is meeting new people and making lifelong friends with your teammates. You get to learn about where they come from, whether it is from another country or right down the street.

Some would say that playing Division 1 is more than just a sport. It’s a job. Kaela

Sports

Dickerman a 2014 Kennedy graduate, plays soccer at the University of Louisville.

“Playing a D1 sport is incomparable to playing a high school sport, it’s a job here.

The game demands a different level of fitness, and the talent is far greater than playing in high school,” Dickerman said.

“Even if a person thinks they are playing at their peak in high school, they have more to give if they want to play at a D1 level.”

Transitioning into college, along with a sport at the same time can be hard to get used too. A lot of college athletes have to be devoted to putting in as much effort as they can when focusing on both their sport and their schoolwork.

Conner Koberg, sr., is planning on continuing his education and golf career at Iowa State University next fall.

“I think it will be a lot of fun. It will take some getting used to, because I like to practice a lot so I’ll have to learn good time management,” Koberg said. “I also think that I’ll improve a ton once I get there, because I’ll be in an environment with great players and resources.”

Zach Daniels, sr., will continue his commitment to his education and baseball next fall at the University of Iowa.

“I’m going to have to manage my time better. Iowa makes this easy by scheduling my class around traveling and games, but it will take some time to get use to the college level,” Daniels said.

All of these athletes agree that the division one level takes a higher level of commitment than high school athletics, but they wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“In high school many people can rely solely on their raw talent to succeed. In college, the athletes are stronger, taller, faster, and more knowledgeable about the game, so you must put in more hard work than you ever have before to achieve your goals,” Martin said.

Abby Donovan

PAGES BY Abby Donovan 23

All state music

SPORTS

Swimming into state

photo by Maddie Herlocker

The Kennedy Girls Swim team took home first place at the regional swim meet, Nov. 1 at Linn Mar, with five recordbreaking swims by the Cougars and lifetime best times for many swimmers.

Kirsten Siebenga, jr. is involved in breaking two of the five records that were broken. She attributes her coaches and especially her mother for believing in her and supporting her. “ “I’d been looking at the 50 free record for a while. I had the goal time above my bed,” Siebenga said, “It was a goal I set out to do.”

Siebenga is going to state in all four of her events along with fifteen other Kennedy swimmers. This year is the first year of 17 years that Coach John Ross, commonly known as JR amongst the swimmers, has a swimmer qualifying in all events at state.

“I was very pleased,” Ross said

24

of the Cougars performance at regionals, “We do individual and team goals prior to our championship meets, and we were really close to those goals. Needless to say breaking five team records we’ve probably exceeded that.”

Records were broken in the 100 yard backstroke by Sam Jacobson, 100 yard freestyle by Maddie Bagby, 200 yard freestyle relay by a team of Kirsten Siebenga, Lydia Yang, Sam Jacobson, and Maddie Bagby, 400 yard freestyle relay by Darby Manternach, Lydia Yang, Sam Jacobson, and Maddie Bagby, and the 50 yard freestyle

by Kirsten Siebenga.

State qualifiers journeyed to Marshalltown Nov. 8 to compete, placing 16th overall, with a performance that mirrored that of regionals.

Naomi Hofferber

The Cougars got the beat. On Oct. 25, Kennedy High School students traveled to Manchester, Iowa to compete against Iowa’s greatest, young musicians for a spot on the State ensemble.

“It was one of the biggest auditions of my life,” Jamie Milota, so., said.

Out of all the students who auditioned from all over Iowa, 18 students made it from Kennedy High School.

“High schools send their best players, so I was competing against the best in the state,” Lydia Yang, jr., said.

The audition was no easy task to take on. Many lessons, countless hours practicing, numerous critiques, and many S.M.A.R.T. lunch tutorials went into preparation.

“I had mock auditions, Chamber choir, and for two months, we rehearsed every other day,” Jason Grobstitch, sr., said.

Kennedy orchestra qualifiers include Joyce Lai, fr., Jasmine Li, so., Calvin Mackin, so., Jamie Milota, so., and Austin Wu, jr.

All orchestra qualifiers will be traveling to Ames, Iowa on Nov. 20 to do chair auditions. They will spend three days there practicing with the state orchestra and have their performance Saturday, Nov.22.

Compared to previous years, more students from Kennedy who auditioned for state this year made it than in the past.

Band qualifiers, Elijah Feuerhelm, jr., Lexi Forstrom, sr., Josh Lyman, sr., Aaron Unash, sr., McKenna Woods, jr., and Lydia Yang, jr. will spend the same three days preparing for state band as well at Iowa State University. All band members are under the direction of Lesley Fleer and Jared Wacker.

The Hilton Hotel in Ames, Iowa is where you can go to listen to Kennedy’s state chorus qualifiers Grant Barton, sr., Maia Bennett, jr., Molly Osborn, jr., Rizwan Sidhu, jr., Amy Wacker, sr., and alternates-Jason Grobstitch, sr. and Nathan Schulte,jr. They will be rehearsing Nov. 21 and 22. They are under the direction of Storm Ziegler and Scott Mutters.

“I was really excited to find out that I had finally made it,” Amy Wacker, sr., said.

Jade Milota

SPORTS

The “Comeback Cougs”

A late season win, a winning field goal and determination led to the second round of playoffs The Kennedy Cougars football team made another State playoff appearance this year after a two and seven regular season record and a first round win against the Muscatine Muskies.

When the playoff match ups were released, the Cougars were considered underdogs against the seven and two Muskies. But the Cougars went into Muscatine and got a hard fought 20-17 victory off of a game-winning 24 yard field goal by Mark Schulz, sr, as time expired.

“They were determined to prove to everyone that we were a good team, and the only way to prove that was by going out and beating a good team.” Head Coach Brian White said.

The success for the Cougars started with the run game, with Tyler Dralle, jr, rushed for 228 yards on 48 carries.

“Tyler Dralle definitely had a big impact on that game because our backup running back Logan Wedo separated his shoulder in practice and so that left Tyler to carry most of the workload,” Terrence Hall, sr., said, “He was fine with that and he came up big for us.”

The next Monday the Cougars went to Bettendorf to play the number one ranked and unbeaten Bettendorf Bulldogs in the

photo by Naomi Hofferber

second round of the playoffs. The Cougars had it tied at seven with 8:52 left in the second quarter, but after that they had costly penalties and turnovers that helped the Bulldogs pull away and win 31-7 to end Kennedy’s season.

“We had some opportunities to go up 14-7, but we had a couple penalties and a couple of turnovers that really hurt, and without those we would have been in pretty good shape.” White said.

The Cougars had a tough schedule this year, playing all of the teams ranked in the top eight in the rankings. Through all this, the Cougars were resilient and never faltered.

“My teammates but also all of the coaches we were truly a family, we played like one, talked like one, even fought like one and when things were going bad we didn’t break,” Hall said, White agrees that this team wouldn’t have made it very far without the heart and determination they displayed through out the season.

“We had great senior leadership, we had lots of sophomores and juniors that played, we learned a lot, and we hope we have a great year next year,” White said.

Brant Barnhart

PAGES BY LYDIA MARTIN 25

SPORTS

#JustDrewIt A season played to honor a teammate

There’s no doubt that the Kennedy Men’s Golf team was successful this season. This year, seven seniors, six here, and one in spirit led the team.

The Cougar’s left it all on the course this season in honor of their former teammate Drew Wall, who died of cancer in 2012.

“Playing for Drew was always in our heads. We always wanted to finish the round and be able to think Drew would be proud of us, with the way we scored and more importantly the way we carried ourselves on the course,” Ross Grekoff, sr., said.

Wall would’ve been proud of his teammates this year.

“We finished first in ten of our fourteen meets this season,” Wilden said of his last year in coaching the golf team, “we were second in the three others along with placing three golfers on the first team all-state team, that’s outstanding.”

Of these wins, the Cougars became conference champions on Sept. 29 with a combined score of 300. Then, on Oct. 7, the team won the district tournament by seven strokes with a team score of 299 and earned themselves their eighth consecutive trip to the state tournament.

Then it was on to the state tournament. The Cougars placed fourth as a team in the state tournament on Oct. 10 and 11, at the Tournament Club of Iowa in Polk City, Iowa. Conner Koberg sr., placed fifth as an individual with a combined score of 148.

“Unfortunately, we closed out our senior year with kind of a

26

rough performance in Polk City but I don’t think any of us would have changed anything over these last four years together,” Cole Murdock, sr., said, “Except that state championship but our dominance was displayed well every year.”

This group of seniors went to the state tournament all four years, finishing 4th in 2011, 2nd in 2012, 2nd in 2013, and then 4th in 2014.

“These golfers won four MVC championships, four district championships and have put seven trophies in our trophy case,” Wilden said.

These seniors really did leave it all on the course in honor of their teammate.

“Even though we didn’t finish how we wanted, we had lots of success and made lots of memories with the best teammates there are,” Grekoff said.

Tanner Stewart sr. agrees that this season was played for their teammate.

“We believed in wearing out purple shirts for Drew would give us an extra boost and we knew we were playing for something bigger than just ourselves,” Stewart said, “We always have felt we have had a seventh man with us in all of our meets.”

Lydia Martin

PAGES BY LYDIA MARTIN

Bump, Set, Spike

State

Cougar Volleyball makes plans for the future Going into the regional tournament the Kennedy volleyball team was 26-11.

“We came into the season not ranked and people didn’t think we would be that good, well we ended up winning 16 out of our last 18 games. We just showed everyone how good we can be,” Kendal Meier so., said.

Setter Anna Fluent jr. and right side hitter Macy Anderson jr. made first team all conference for the Mississippi Valley Conference. Brinley Milbrath jr., middle hitter made second team all conference. Kendal Meier and Paige Franck so. received Honorable Mention.

The first round of regionals was an easy win against the Washington Warriors. The Cougars played Washington in the first round of regionals on Monday, Oct. 27. They dominated over Wash in three sets.

“At the Wash game we were just solid as a team and we were consistent, ” Milbrath said.

The team moved onto the second round on Thursday, Oct. 29 to play the Linn Mar Lions. The game went into five sets, ending with the Cougars winning 15-12 in the fifth set and taking home the victory.

“We never gave up. That was our biggest factor. We fought for every point and that paid off in the end,” Fluent said.

After winning the Linn Mar game the Kennedy volleyball team traveled to Newton on Nov. 4 to take on the Dowling Maroons.

The Cougars fell to Dowling in three sets, ending their season.

“In the Dowling game I thought our defense was really good and the hitters were actively looking for their open shots,” Milbrath said.

Next season the Cougars hope to make it to the state tournament at the US Cellular Center.

Milbrath says that she looks forward to seeing the same passion that they had in the Linn Mar game in every game next season.

Her teammates are optimistic as well.

“I think we can definitely make it to state and win the MVC tournament,” Fluent said.

“I’m looking forward to holding that green state banner, and walking into the U.S. Celler Center not as a bystander but as a player playing for the gold, Milbraith siad.

Abby Donovan

photo provided by Doug Palmer

27

John F. Kennedy High School 4545 Wenig Rd. NE Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

“The torch has been passed to a new generation.” - John F. Kennedy www.twitter.com/KennedyTorch

www.kennedytorch.org khsads@gmail.com